Thursday, 3 March 2011

Audiobook Review: Pi-R-Us & A Most Heinous Crime

Today, I'll be doing something else. No book review this time, but two short reviews on two audio books of short stories I've received for review through sci-fi-cafe.com. Don't forget to check out their site too!

I usually don't listen to audio books so I saw this as a nice experiment to see if they work for me. Overall I really enjoyed these books. The narration was clear and surprisingly easy to follow. There are added sound effects and background noises to go along with the reading. While at some points I had a little trouble holding my attention to the narrator, they added a nice ambiance to the story and made the overall experience more exciting.

A Most Heinous Crime by Andy Severn & Mike Philbin
This was a surprisingly dark read (or do you call that "listen" when talking about audio books?). It paints a horrifying picture of a future world where human life is being sustained by Shrooms. These Shrooms provide all a human needs.

Because everyone has gotten so fat, one has to move by using a gravity field. Causing pain and suffering is the recommended pastime. In this gruesome world lives Judge Mahony. He has to deal with the most heinous crime he has ever witnessed.

I really liked this story. It was quite short, but gave us a clear indication of how the world works and how it looks and feels. This story satisfied my secret sadistic horror-need perfectly. I would love to read more about this world and its inhabitants.

Pi-R-Us by Andy Severn
As dark and horrifying as AMHC was, I though Pi-R-Us was a cute story compared to it. In this one, John's coffee break is crudely interrupted by some crazy man waving with his gun, chanting a sequence of numbers.

When this lunatic spots John, he tells John something he had never expected. This man has found the meaning behind the number of pi.

What fascinates me most about this story is that while you're listening to it, you start to believe the crazy man's explanation of pi. You start to wonder whether some of the things he says are true. I think this story will appeal to anyone with a little science geek within him or her.